College News, 1935-11-06, Vol. 22, No. 04

              The College News
VOL. XXII, No. 4
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1935     g^'l&i^NKwa A�S             PRICE 10 CENTS
BRYN MAWR CELEBRATES FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
Miss Park Traces
History of College
Successes, Virtues
Monologue by Cornelia Skinner
Recreates Early Freshman
at Bryn Mawr
CAMPUS SONGS SUNG
IN  PERIOD  COSTUME
Goodhart, Nov. 1 and 2�
, With a light heart and a proud
head Bryn Mawr reviewed her his-
tory�serious and gay�once for the
distinguished guests and delegates
to the; celebration and again "en
famille" for her alumnae and under-
graduate daughters. Miss Park, in
a pithy and beautifully composed
address, brought to light the facts
of "Bryn Mawr's pre-natal exist-
ence," of its founder's life and will,
and of its selected virtues and suc-
cesses. Lantern slides including
many early pictures of the campus,
the faculty and the students, and
recent moving pictures of Big May
Day illustrated her talk. The latter
half of the program featured the
monologue A Campus Idyll, written
by Cornelia Otis Skinner, '22, and
acted on Friday by Miss Skinner
and on Saturday by Magdelen Hup-
fel Flexner, '28. Four types of
"campus folk song" sung by choir
members in colorfully costumed
tableaux concluded with an impres-
sive mock Lantern Night ceremony
to Pallas Athene.
After describing the facts of the
founding of the college, Miss Park
continued to explain the sources of
the color and form and essence of
Bryn Mawr which through the years
remains the same, "From its Quaker
fathers a habit of caution, along
with tolerance of new ones a liking
for established ways, and, very clear
as Dr. Rhoads' special contribution,
friendliness and simplicity; always
respect for the individual. Reflec-
tions from certain convictions of the
new dean: her respect for intellect
and her basic confidence in it, her
confidence in liberty,�that through
personal liberty only the mature and
civilized Jfcrson developed, her lik-
ing for a rich background, the Eu-
ropean scene behind the American,
beautiful surroundings, varied ex-
perience. And from the procession
of its faculty for fifty years the
driving  power and  cutting edge.
"Of such a series of Faculties, of
President   Thomas,   of   the   Quaker
strain     crystallized     in      President
Rhoads and the early trustees, Bryn
Continued  on  Page  Six
>;�'!* 1*
Part of the Academic Procession
Photo Courtesy of Evening Public Ledger
French Americanisms
Discussed Amusingly
Common Room, Oct. 31. � The
French Club held its second meeting
with M. Guiton as its guest. He was
a most amusing speaker on his sub-
ject of "Americanisms Among the
French." It seems that certain of
the French are as eager to appear
"American" as some Americans are
to be "French." Actually many fash-
ions and terms which were once
blatantly American have become es-
sentially French through their long
and convenient use. The American
styles of one year may be adopted by
Frenchmen and soon they become so
popular that they are permanently
established as a French style. Such
has been the case of the "poulovaire"
tucked inside the trousers. (Pull-
over-sweater.)
In the realm of sport particularly
many good American words can be
heard in an unfamiliar accent. If a
tennis ball passes the fatal white line,
a cry goes up of "A-out." One speaks
at a boxing match of a "Knock-out"
with the accent on^the "K." The ety-
mology of the word "meeting" is very
interesting. It was used first in
France by the "snobs" to denote a
gathering, and is still so used, pro-
nounced approximately as in English.
Now it is often heard among the peo-
ple of France as signifying a rally of
Continued on  {'age  Eight
Rockefeller Students Bravely Endure
Tribulations of Exile to Other Halls
Far from transforming itself into
"one great, big, happy family," as is
the custom at most celebrations, Bryn
Mawr rather assumed for its Fiftieth
Anniversary the aspect of an adult
orphan asylum. Lest these words
convey too sombre an impression, let
, it be quickly added that the Bryn
Mawr asylum resounded to no sobs
and lamentations. Rather, mirth and
festivity reigned, and "joy was un-
confined." But the distinguished vis-
itors, the alumnae, the Rockefeller in-
mates whose rooms were confiscated,
and even the faculty dogs, wore a be-
wildered, homeless look which even
over their most brilliant smiles re-
mained unaltered like a piece of cello-
phane.
The Hospitality Committee did its
best to dispel the lost-puppy symptoms
displayed by its wards, but imagine
its dismay when it found that one of
them actually was lost! One of the
speakers had long been due to arrive,
yet not a word had been heard nor a
sight seen of him. Hastily scouts
were dispatched to discover the miss-
ing gentleman, and so hastily they
get about their duty that they almost
neglected to assist a lone and distant
figure whom they noticed in obvious
distress. Their benevolent natures
prevailed, however, and they stopped
to inquire his trouble. Mournfully he
replied, "I don't know where to go."
"Who," they thereupon desired to
know, "are you?" He was no other
than the man they were seeking. He
led them,, amazed in their turn, to
where his wife w* sitting, forlorn
and baffled, in the midst of her bag-
gage. With profuse apologies the fur-
Other visitors were led astray by
their guides rather than by their own
misguided instincts. To one person,
whose ambiguous last name was pre-
fixed by the equally ambiguous title,
"President," was assigned a room in
the men's corridor in Rockefeller.
(Fof both men and women, "because-
of the necessity ofJJJhe occasion, lodged
in Rockefeller on Friday night.) The
president arrived, the room number
was given to a guide and both set off
merrily enough until they found them-
selves proceeding down a corridor
labeled "Men." There was the room.
The guide observed the president to
see if she was dreaming. No, the
Continued on Page Six
College Calendar
Thursday, November 7: Vo-
cational Tea in the Common
Room at 4.15 P. M. Miss Kath-
erine Taylor will speak.
Saturday, November 9: Var-
sity Hockey Game vs. German-
town Cricket Club at 10 A. M.
Monday, November 11: Mass
Meeting for protest against war.
Goodhart Hall. Time to be an-
nounced.
Monday, November 11: Sec-
ond Team Game vs. Merion C.
C. at 4.00 P. M.
Tuesday, November 12: Var-
sity Hockey Game vs. Rosemont
at 4.00 P. M.
Parties Entertain Alumnae
Although Bryn. Mawr may lead a
cloistered existence when there is no
reason to do otherwise, it can display
all the social graces when occasion
calls. Witness Rockefeller, festooned
with flowers, filled wiih men and
women wearing the most impeccable
of evening dress, and bearing the most
distinguished of names. For this
dinner on Friday evening, Miss Park
stood in the reception line, together
with Dr. and Mrs. Rufus Jones and
President Wooley of Mt. Holyoke.
The guests wandered blithely from
the smoking room to the show case
and on to the dining room during the
course of the buffet supper, without
realizing the strict line of demarca-
tion existing between ^hese rooms on
ordinary days.
On Saturday, lunch was given in
the gymnasium for all the distin-
guished guests, but the purpose was
no so much lunch as meeting and
talking, which continued until almost
three o'clock. This was the time for
the presentation of the M. Carey
Thomas award to Dr. Sabin. After
presentation, a tea was held for Dr.
Sabin and a few of her friends in
the Common Room. That evening,
the younger alumnae were the guests
of Miss Park at a supper in the
Deanery, just as the older alumnae
had been Miss Thomas* guests there
on the previous night. The Deanery
was crowded on both occasions with
old friends eager to see each other
again after the lapse of a few or of
many years.__________
Newspaper Exchanges
Starting this week the news-
papers of other colleges, received
as exchanges by the College
News, will be placed in the Com-
mon Room for any who wish to
read them.
Bryn Mawr, Haverford
To Put On "The Swan"
The Swan, by Ferenc Molnar, a clev-
er, amusing and sometimes rather
wistful comedy satire on royalty, is
the choics of the Bryn Mawr College
Players' Club and the Haverford Col-
lege Cap and Bells as a fall play.
The cast includes seventeen speaking
parts as well as a few players, such
as hussars, lackeys and so forth who
have nothing to say, Bat merely lend
atmosphere. Of these, eight of the
actors with speaking parts are women,
and four of these have rather impor-
tant parts. The leading characters
are Princess Beatrice, a former queen;
her daughter, Alexandra; her brother;
Father Hyacinth, a monk; and Pro-
fessor Hans Agi, the tutor of the
Princess Beatrice's sons.
The two performances are to be
given at Bryn Mawr Friday and Sat-
urday, December 6 and 7. The sec-
ond presentation is to be followed by
a dance at Bryn Mawr given jointly
with Haverford College, in which
there willow- two stag lines, one com-
posed of men and the other women.
The two organizations have chosen as
:heir director Miss Eleanor Hopkin-
son, sister of Joan Hopkinson, '35.
Miss Hopkinson was ako in charge
of the direction of the acting in last
spring's Greek play, The Bacchae.
Because of the large amount of time
taken up by rehearsals of the choir for
Continued on  Page Three
Colorful Ceremony,
Bright Procession
Honor Festive Day
Mrs.   Slade   Presents   #750,000
of Alumnae Gift, Promises
Added   #250,000
PRESIDENT THOMAS IS
CENTER OF  INTEREST
Goodhart, Nov. 2.�Bryn Mawr's
Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration
moved through a colorful succession
of events on Friday and Saturday,
November 1 and 2, and culminated
with the announcement of an alum-
nae gift of $750,000�three-quarters of
the million-dollar fund which is to be
completed by June�and with the
presentation to Dr. Florence Rena
Sabin of the $5000 M. Carey Thomas
Prize award.
The formal program began on Sat-
urday morning with an academic pro-
cession which included distinguished
educators from nearly a hundred col-
leges and universities throughout the
East, among them the speakers on the
morning, James Bryant Conant, Presi-
dent of Harvard University; Ada
Louise Comstock, President of Rad-
cliffe College; Isaiah Bowman, Presi-
dent of Johns Hopkins University, and
representatives of learned societies and
foundations, particularly Dr. Sabin
and Dr. Simon Flexner, of the Rocke-
feller Institute for Medical Research.
Three hundred delegates formed
the procession which progressed from
the Library to Goodhart. The line
was colored by the bright academic
hoods that designated the college and
degree of the wearer, particularly by
the brilliant yellow and red robes
worn by Dr. Charles -Cestre, of the
University of Paris, and by Dr. Simon
Flexner. The tremendous applause
of the day came with the close of the
procession as the spectators greeted
President-emeritus M. Carey Thomas
and President Marion Edwards Park.
In opening the formal exercises
President Park welcomed the friends
of the college: "The guests represent
the colleges and universities of this
part of the world, the learned socie-
ties with which we have some connec-
tion, the heads of the schools who have
sent their girls, many or few, to Bryn
Mawr, and our own individual friends
and neighbors. On the platform with
us sit our nearest academic colleagues,
Haverford, Swarthmore, Temple Uni-
versity, the University of Pennsyl-
vania, Princeton, a symbol I hope of
local solidarity. Faculty, alumnne
and undergraduates fill the other
places. I think there is probably no
one in the room who has not consulted,
Continued on  rage  Six
Bryn Mawr Slumbers Through Earthquake
Despite .Efforts  of   Press   to   Rouse  Us
Late lasf*Thursday night, while the
college slept soundly in anticipation
of events to come, one of the wardens
was rudely awakened from her well-
earned repose by the clamorous and
insistent voice of the emergency tele-
phone in her office. Quickly she arose
and went to answer it, alarmed leal
the last of her charges who was still
out might have met with some un-
happy accident. Imagine her relief
and her annoyance to hear a loud
masculine voice come over the wire
asking, "Has the college a seismo-
graph?"
When tie warden had sufficiently
aroused herself to ask the gentleman
again what he  wanted, she  was in-
whole Main Line was being shaken.
The warden grew interested at this
point and began to envision the cam-
pus buildings collapsing and th�
ground opening up and swallowing
our citadel of It arning. The reporter,
however, when pre-sod for details re-
fused to extend the actual quake area
beyond South Philadelphia.
The discussion did not, however,
settle the original argument about
whether Bryn Mawr had a seismo-
graph. After some idle talk the re-
porter gathered that he was not talk-
ing with the source of the necessary
information and at once asked how.
to get in touch with some one in th�*
science departments. Fortunately foi^
these worthy individuals the warden
formed that one of the local papers refused to vouchsafe the information
wished to know whether the college
possessed an instrument for record-
ing earthquakes and if it did he
wanted to know at once what it was
recording. It seems that there were
earthquakes going on in the vicinity
and the press was anxious to find out
all about it.    When asked about the
which would cause them to be called
forth from their beds in a manner a-*
unceremonious as she had been. And
the moral of- air this is that if on
awakening on Friday morning you
found yourself in a heap on the floor
it wasn't because of anything you had
for  dinner,  but   rather  because   the
immediate proximity of tl"     , .*&&***& it into its head to acquire
Bryn   Mrwr,   he   reported   that   the
a couple of new convolution-;.